Ambitus Question

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benwiggy
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by benwiggy »

Anders Hedelin wrote: 03 Jul 2021, 06:16 Isn't the following the most natural and least cluttered way to do it?
In a more scholarly edition you would probably not expect to find any ambiti at all - or would you?
Ambitus-es are very common in scholarly editions. The vocal range is a crucial piece of information that is not provided by any other notation. The part name is no guarantee of anything.

Here's a PDF sample of the Early English Church Music series, which is about as scholarly as you can get. (Mind you, also by Stainer & Bell, so might be 'house style'.)

https://stainer.co.uk/images/pdf/ECM5113.pdf

I also prefer the ambitus as given here: after the key sig, before the time sig. If you're doing an ambitus, then there's probably going to be an incipit anyway.
Anders Hedelin
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by Anders Hedelin »

Thanks for the enlightenment, benwiggy.

One thing I don't understand in the example you linked to is the semibreves at the beginning of the Bassus voice. Do you know what they mean? They are full-sized notes but don't seem to have anything to do with the sung music.
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benwiggy
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by benwiggy »

??? Do you mean the rests? One breve's rest fills a space; two breves' rest runs to two spaces. They indicate 9 bars before the first note.
Anders Hedelin
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by Anders Hedelin »

Sorry, I at first had a lower-percentage view, but then saw they were rests, not notes.
Last edited by Anders Hedelin on 03 Jul 2021, 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
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benwiggy
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by benwiggy »

I just chose a work at random. I'm not sure what program they used to create the music. The notes don't seem to be 'fonts' at all.

Only the time sig is a character, in some font called "Bentivoglio". It may be a custom in-house process.

(The editor is my old PhD Supervisor!)
Anders Hedelin
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by Anders Hedelin »

I'm not that used to older notation, even if I know something of how the music was composed in the old days. So, now at last, I see what you mean with the rests: 4x2 + 1 breve rests! Right?
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David Ward
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by David Ward »

FWIW this is how I notated it (ambitus) in manuscript in 1989 (unusually for me, as my practice is to apply the Fach system – dramatic mezzo, Verdi baritone &c).

BTW if anyone is remotely interested, a recording of Part 3 of the piece in the scan can be heard at the top left of my Sound page https://composers-uk.com/davidward/sound-clips/ Click on either the picture of the Gloup Memorial or on the ‘player’ below it (and yes, I did ask the trombones to ‘rasp without restraint’ at 10' 25").
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https://composers-uk.com/davidward/news-links/
benwiggy
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by benwiggy »

Anders Hedelin wrote: 03 Jul 2021, 13:06 I'm not that used to older notation, even if I know something of how the music was composed in the old days. So, now at last, I see what you mean with the rests: 4x2 + 1 breve rests! Right?
Yes: similar notation was used in instrumental parts for multi-bars' rest, until recent times.
David Ward wrote: 03 Jul 2021, 13:08(and yes, I did ask the trombones to ‘rasp without restraint’ at 10' 25").
Ha! Very strong, David.
Anders Hedelin
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by Anders Hedelin »

David Ward wrote: 03 Jul 2021, 13:08 FWIW this is how I notated it (ambitus) in manuscript in 1989
FWIW your notation gives me no problems. You have a lot of information left of the leftmost barline, so there's ample space for the ambiti as well. That they are not preceded by a clef doesn't constitute a problem either. It's all quite unambiguous, in this case. I think your example shows that context is all-important.
Last edited by Anders Hedelin on 03 Jul 2021, 14:24, edited 1 time in total.
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Anders Hedelin
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Re: Ambitus Question

Post by Anders Hedelin »

benwiggy wrote: 03 Jul 2021, 13:16 Yes: similar notation was used in instrumental parts for multi-bars' rest, until recent times.
I never use the traditional notation of multimeasure rests myself, but anyway thanks for the info.

(Actually I have known about the old rests, but it took me a few moments to refresh my memory. Old notation, fascinating as it is, isn't what I do usually.)
Finale 26, 27 on Windows 10
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